Oak Lawn Estate Planning | It may be time to review your Trust

 Effective January 1^st of this year, the Illinois Legislature enacted new Trust laws. These laws will mostly relate to newly drafted trusts but if you already have an existing trust, this would be a good time to go back to your lawyer’s office to ensure your existing trust is still in compliance with existing law and determine if these new provisions could provide additional opportunities to further your estate planning goals.  

 One important change is that trustees are now allowed to change the place of administration of the trust after providing notice to beneficiaries. This can be helpful to ease the administration of your trust, especially if your beneficiaries and successor trustee live in another state.

The new trust law, Section 760 § 414(a-b) also allows for the modification or termination of a trust if the burden of administering the trust outweighs the purpose of the trust. Your successor trustee may terminate your trust if the value of the trust property is under $100,000.00 and the costs of continuing the trust will substantially impair accomplishing the purpose of the trust. The court could also modify or terminate a trust or remove a trustee and appoint a different trustee if it determines that the value of the assets in the trust are insufficient to justify the cost of its administration. Pet lovers take note, this will not apply to trusts for domestic or pet animals. You should ensure your attorney adds these provisions into your trust to ensure the best financial care for your pet.

Another new provision of the code is that the trustees will now have up to 120 days to determine if they want the role. If your trust outlines a method for a successor trustee to accept trusteeship, that method will be honored. If the trust does not provide a method of accepting trusteeship, the potential successor trustee has up to 120 days to accept that position. If he or she does not accept that position within the prescribed time frame, they are deemed to have declined the trusteeship. Additionally, any potential successor trustee may inspect the trust property to determine if there are any potential liabilities under environmental, or other laws. He or she may choose to act to preserve trust assets without accepting the trusteeship if the successor trustee acts within the 120 days and in good faith. These provisions are outlined in Section 760 § 701 of the act.  

Finally, the trust code now creates additional duties to inform and account to beneficiaries of an irrevocable trust. The trustee shall notify each qualified beneficiary of the trust’s existence, the right to receive a complete copy of the trust instrument, and whether the beneficiary has a right to receive or request trust accounting. The trustee must also inform qualified beneficiaries within 90 days of their name, address, phone number, or later any change in their contact information. The trustee must notify the beneficiaries in advance regarding a change in their compensation or of their anticipated resignation. A trustee must send a trust accounting “at least annually” to all current beneficiaries.

These changes could create pitfalls and landmines for any trustees managing the assets held within a trust. For help with creating, administrating, or reviewing your trusts, please don’t hesitate to call my office at (708) 529-7794 or check out my website at www.jwcolelaw.com.

Oak Lawn Estate Planning | Did your old attorney really do a good job?

Problem: Your old attorney gave you your estate planning documents and sent you on your way. You have no plan for when you die, just some documents that state who your property goes to upon your death.

Needs: What you needed was a comprehensive plan that includes both a property distribution plan and the methods that that plan can be implemented.

Solution: You need to find an attorney that focuses on more than just a document "pump and dump".

It has been an unfortunate problem that attorneys, particularly older attorneys, have asked some basic questions of clients and then pumped out a will or trust for the client. They have the client come into the office and sing the documents and send them on their way. Often, the client is confused about what this document does and how anyone will be able to use it after their death. Additionally, the attorney doesn't care to help these individuals because she hopes that she will do the probate in the event of your death. What I always tell the Executors of an estate is, "The more disorganized the estate is, the more money I make." This may be why old attorneys simply dump the documents on the client and provide no instruction later. This pump and dump method was par for the course in the old days. Now, clients should expect more. The proper instruction can make the passing of a loved one a manageable process from property standpoint.

You may be asking, what things should my attorney have told me?

 This question is very specific to your situation. People have so many different types of assets and family situations, it would be wrong to try and give a cookie cutter answer. There are some pieces of information that he should have discussed with you which are almost universal to everyone. This type of information makes administrating your estate much easier. I always advocate creating a critical information sheet with your attorney that will be given to the executor that will make their life much easier. This critical information sheet will contain things that would take a good deal of manpower to find and, in some cases, may never be found. A sampling of things that should be included on this sheet would include: passwords to emails, passwords to Facebook, passwords to a blog, passwords to finacial institution accounts, location of keys to lock boxes, listing of all certificate of deposits, listing of all savings/checking accounts, names of brokerage firms, names and numbers of insurance companies, instructions for care of pets, lists of credit cards, etc.

Most Estate Planning lawyers don't even include these things with their documents. This type of estate planning is simply unacceptable. A good estate planning attorney should ensure that they are counselors and not simply a document manufacturer. There is no doubt that a good will or trust makes all the difference in the word in regards to the property going to the proper party and with the least governmental hassle. Why not choose an attorney who makes the hassle on loved ones as small as it possibly can be. After all, is that who you had the trust drafted for anyways.

For more information on getting your Will or Trust, call,

Law Office of Jonathan W. Cole
5013 W. 95th St.
Oak Lawn, IL 60453
708-529-7794
Jonathan@JWColeLaw.com

Oak Lawn Estate Planning | What is a Trust?

To explain what a trust is and how it works, consider the following example. This example is a common action of a parents throughout the U.S.

You give money to your baby sitter for things that may be needed for your children. You “trust” that she will use the money for the children’s benefit and not for herself. This, in essence, fulfills the four necessary requirements for a trust.

1. Grantor – The person to creates the Trust …i.e. funds the trust

2. Trustee – Some other Person or entity most agree to hold money or property for the benefit of someone else.

3. Corpus – Also known as the “principal” of the trust.

4. Beneficiary – The person or persons who benefit from the trust

This is an example of a basic trust. We will call it a "Babysitter Trust". In this case, you as the parent are the grantor of the trust. You became the grantor when you handed the money to the babysitter. The babysitter is the trustee of the trust when she is holding the money in accordance with your directions. The money you give to the babysitter is the corpus of the trust. This also could have been property that the babysitter had possession and control over. Finally, your children are the beneficiaries of the trust. The children are the ones who the money is intended to benefit.

This is the basic four necessary parts of a trust. It really makes a lot more sense when it is broken down into its four parts in a simple everyday example. Now that you know what a trust is, look for the next post explaining how to categorize a trust. If you need help setting up a trust, contact the Law Office of Jonathan W. Cole at (708) 529-7794. 

Law Office of Jonathan W. Cole

5013 W. 95th St.
Oak Lawn, IL 60463
(708) 529-7794

Oak Lawn Estate Planning | The Need to Follow Up

The problem with any plan is complacency. With the big three changes always happening, you can not rest on your estate plan forever. The big three being, 1) changes in the laws that effect your estate plan, 2) changes in your assets, and 3) changes in your family structure. In light of this obvious and inevitable change that will occur in the real world, people are stuck believing that their static plan for their assets will be good forever. It is like taking a picture today, only to be curious about why you do not look like this 20 years later.

 The excuses are endless. It costs too much money, it is impossible to know how many changes should prompt me to re-evaluate my plan. I don't have time to update my plan. The list goes on and on. I am always perplexed by the ignorance of people. Good intentions are not enough. You need to take action. If I could yell this any louder, I would lose my voice and my neighbors would be mad at me. You need to take action. If your estate plan provides for your darling two children, who are now both college graduates and getting married themselves, you are long past time. I will give you a rough guide to go by, for determining your re-evaluation period.

No major changes to the big three (see above) - every 7-10 years
A major change to any one of the big three (see above) - every 3-5 years
A major change to any two of the big three (see above) - every 1-3 years
A major change to all of the big three (see above) - see your attorney immediately

If you have a decent relationship with your lawyer, you can probably ask him or her to review your estate plan, and there will be no changes that need to be made or only a minor change. In most cases, this minor change will cost very little and you will now have a current estate plan. In most cases, you would not need to draft a new Will or Trust. All that will be needed is a codicil to your current Will. I can not stress enough how frustrating a stale Estate Plan can be. In some cases, a stale Will or Trust can frustrate the entire purpose that it was meant to support. Please keep you Wills current. As always if you would like to know more about the Will, Trust, and Power of Attorney Process contact:

Law Office of Jonathan W. Cole
5013 W. 95th St.
Oak Lawn, IL 60463
(708) 529-7794

Chicago Estate Planing | Meeting Your Attorney For The First Time

So after much thought and deliberation, you have decided you need an estate plan. You already know, from my previous post, not to ask "What does a Will Cost?"  The question is, what should you ask and what should you bring into your first meeting? If you have a good attorney, he or she should have already sent you some information. The information may consist of a letter, a questioner, and/ or a financial assessment. I personally send all three to a client before I meet the client for the first time. The letter that I send to a client helps the client know what to expect of the estate planning process. The questioner helps the client get into the frame of mind that is necessary to know who are potential people for testamentary gifts. It also helps the client know what property they have and know about, and what property they have and might have forgotten. It also helps a client understand that the title of property (i.e. the way your deed is titled) is important for estate planning purposes.

 So now you have the proper documentation for your first meeting with your attorney. What else should you have. I have found that the most satisfied clients bring with a small notebook and a pen and ask questions that they have prepared before the meeting and take down my answers. After the meeting with me, they look over their notes and the information I have told them can sink in. By having questions in advance, you can wait until I explain the process to you, and when my explanation is done you can ask any questions that I may have not addressed. Without those preset questions, you may be overwhelmed with other parts of the Estate Planning process and forget to ask some of the questions you wanted to know. Additionally, I usually cover some part of the Estate Planning process that my client never heard of before. By coming prepared with questions and have a notebook to jot down new concepts, you will feel better about your initial consultation and have a more pleasant estate planning process. I would love to hear from you about your estate planning needs in the comments below. If you need an estate plan, contact my office, The Law Office of Jonathan W. Cole, or learn more about Estate Planning on my offices estate planning page. Good luck with your estate plan.

 Jonathan W. Cole

Welcome to the Blog

I would like to welcome you to the first post of Chicago Estate Planning. This blog will focus on providing unique insight into the world of estate planning, how to choose an estate planning attorney, what to bring to your initial consultation, and other estate planning tidbits. If you would like to know more about me personally, please follow me here to see what I am up to personally and learn more about me. If you are here, you are probably interested in planning your estate and this blog will start you on your way to doing that. It will probably seem like a daunting task to get your estate plan in order. I assure you that this process will be made simpler by following the steps that I list here and reading some of my sage advice on this process. I look forward to leading you down an important path in your life and congratulate you on your first step in the process.